Title: Genshiken Volume(s): 6+ Creator(s): Kio Shimoku Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left Publisher: Del Rey MSRP: $10.95 Genre(s): Comedy Rated: Older Teen (16+)

There is a scene in "Genshiken" that made me smile for a long time. The scene in question is where a few friends are talking about a manga series they read. The manga they are talking about is a romantic comedy, and the two main characters finally got together in episode 256. One character commits that "the story moved pretty fast for a romantic comedy." This scene made me smile so much because this statement is so true. I mean, look at "Inu-Yasha,” we're more than 400 chapters into the series, and yet Inu-Yasha's relationship with Kagome has gone practically nowhere. In "Maison Ikkoku" it took till almost the end of the series before Gondai and his manager hooked up, and "Fruits Basket"...well, from what I understand relationships keep being hinted at, but no one actually makes any progress. Okay, so all of that didn't really have anything to do with the review, but it's one of the many examples of how well this series captures the otaku lifestyle.

Otaku’s aren't the most sociable people on the planet. While they may deny it, anime and manga otaku's actually have a lot in common with their often mocked brothers the Trekkies. As in they dress up as their favorite anime and manga characters, they role-play, they have lengthy conversations about TV shows, and they debate whether or not certain cliches are actually bad when used in certain situations during a show. I'm not the most hard-core of otakus. Really, I'm not. Oh sure, I'm running a comic book website that is devoted to writing reviews of comic books and manga, and I definitely can have the same longing and (to some people) tedious conversations the characters in this book do, but I do have friends who are hard-core otaku's, and I must say that someone must be spying on my meetings with them, because when it comes to otaku's, this series gets them right. The story in "Genshiken" isn't much to talk about. It's really not. Basically, the story revolves around a boy named Kanji Sasahara, who joins a manga club at the request of a fellow club member, Makoto Kousaka. Makoto may not look like it, but he is a huge otaku. He's a more sophisticated type of otaku (and girls will love him because he's drop dead sexy), but he's an otaku non-the-less. This is pretty much all the story there is in the first volume of "Genshiken," but even though the series is light in the story, it's high in heart. No, there isn't much of a story in "Genshiken." In fact, to many people, this series may actually seem to be nothing more then a series of events that happen. This is actually not too far off from the truth.

However, what makes this series such a winner is the way this series portrays the situations, the characters, and how the characters relate to the situations, in such a human and personal way. Little touches like Kanji slowly opening up to his new group of friends is so human that you swear he is more then just a created manga character. There is another situation that rings true to home; in where Makoto's childhood friend, Saki Kasukabe, secretly loves him, but is worried that a relationship wouldn't work out simply because she doesn't "get" his hobbies, and seeing as how his hobbies are a major part of his life, wonders if this would be a wedge in a potential relationship. Other scenes may not stick out as much, but they are worth mentioning just the same. What's most amazing in this series is the way it portrays the intelligence of the characters. In most series that are created about the otaku lifestyle, the way the actual lifestyle is portrayed can be a little misleading. Most of the time the characters are a little crazy, sometimes they speak in strange ways, they fantasize about what it would be like to live in the series, and ultimately the portrayal of otaku's tends to be that they have no life and are very crazy during conventions. I am not going to either confirm or deny this claim (since there probably are a few otaku's out there like this), but the otaku's in THIS book is what I'm more used to seeing! In this book, the otaku's to a normal person may still seem antisocial. They do hang around in a small room, drinking Coke and having conversations about their hobby, but they are not dumb people.

The conversations they have are real. They talk about their hobbies without getting all stereotypical and melodramatic. These characters are socialable, and they are very nice people, they just happen to like reading comics over novels, and playing MMRPG's instead of sports. While this book does make a note to point out that otaku's have a little bit more difficultly in socializing with people who aren't into their hobbies, it does a very good job of showing these kids as real people who are smart, intelligent, and genuinely funny. You won't find this kind of depth in "Comic Party." Throughout the series, constant otaku references pop up throughout the book that only otaku's will get. When someone's cell phone rings, one of the characters notices that the ringtone is the "FF battle music." Of course, anyone who's anyone in the otaku world knows that FF stands for "Final Fantasy." While references likes these will fly over the heads of people who don't familiarize themselves with Japanese culture (or at the least hang around otaku's), they are a treat for otaku's themselves. After all, these are the references that will make otaku's feel like this manga was made just for them. Of course, several mangas’ are made specifically for the otaku crowd, but this may be the first manga to actually succeed in being memorable. However, seeing that this series does cater to the otaku crowd, it should be noted that people who are NOT otaku's may find this series to be a little on the boring side!

Oh no, this series won't be outright bad to people who aren't otaku's, but seeing as how very few of the conversations and personalities (which make up the bulk of the book) will ring true to people who aren't otaku's, I suspect their love of the series won't be nearly as big. In a way, "Genshiken" is the official "Megatokyo" for the Japanese market. "Megatokyo" (in the early days) wouldn't appeal to you unless you were kept up to speed on the latest developments in the anime and video game world. Same thing with "Genshiken." Unless you are familiar with the otaku lifestyle, you might not like the series that much, as to a non-otaku person, it just doesn't look like a whole lot happens in this series. Even the cover itself seems to be one big in-joke for otaku's. Saki doesn't play a very big role in this series (yet), but she's the main focus on the cover. Why is that? Well, as one character in this book comments, beautiful girls on covers help sell books. Hence, the reason a pretty girl is featured on the cover of this book. Like all of Del Rey's releases, everything about this book is top quality. From translation, to extras’, to actually bothering to include reference notes in the back of the book (something that probably wasn't needed), Del Rey always manages to impress me when it comes to how much care is given to their releases. It makes me wish all companies were this good with their books.

I'm also impressed with the series Del Rey chooses to pick up and release. A series like "Genshiken" most likely wouldn't be picked up by manga publishers who are always out to release "the next big thing," so it's nice to know Del Rey will release a series for the simple reason that the series is good and worth reading. "Genshiken" will not appeal to everyone, as its target audience is clearly aimed at otaku's. Still, even though it has limited appeal, "Genshiken" is the best manga about the otaku lifestyle I've read in years. While people who aren't otaku's may not get into the series very easily, people who are otaku's can sit back and enjoy this wonderful series.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -